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'Fast Eddie' Schartman

Ed Schartman inherited his love of cars and speed from his father who built several and wrenched dirt track sprint cars. Ed made his first trip to a race track with his dad when he was just six years old and his interest grew from that date on. At age 14 he build his first drag car, a 1940 Ford powered by a highly modified flathead engine. At the same time he was enrolled in every shop, metal-working and auto mechanics course offered by his local high school in an effort to become the best all round racer he could be. After graduating from high school in 1956, Ed began his drag racing career in earnest. His name was first posted in the NHRA record listings in 1958 when he was at the wheel of a B/Gas sedan. Ed’s main interest was in the stock classes and in 1964 he drove his first Mercury A/FX Comet Wagon to the class champion spot at the NHRA Winter Nationals in Deland, FL. and in 1965 he was named Super Stock Magazines Rookie of the Year. In the years 1964 through 1967 Ed won an average of 89% of the races he entered into. He was also successful enough to earn the nickname Fast Eddie along the way. By this time the stock-bodied cars were becoming more exotic and faster so Schartman made the move into the new “funny car” ranks. This was before the name “Funny Car” became a household term and the cars were today’s tube chassis, glass-bodied vehicles. The first of these “funny cars” wore steel bodies around their potent engines and even sported modified “stock” chassis. Ed was one of the very first to compete in a flip-top super experimental 1966 Mercury Cyclone. This combination powered Ed to victory circle at the first NHRA Nationals in Tulsa, OK in 1966 when he defeated Dyno Don Nicholson. This proved to be an even more successful move when in April of 1967 he became the first person to break the eight second ET barrier in a stock bodied car at Detroit Dragway. His success in the popular S/XS class continued throughout 1967 when he won the Manufacturers Funny Car championship at Orange County Dragway in Irvine, CA, the “Funny Car” Grand Prix Championship at Irwindale Raceway in Irwindale, CA, the Northern California Championship meet at Fremont Dragway in Fremont, CA and set the class elapsed time record at the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, CA. Fast Eddie competed at most of the major national events during his racing years but became more famous as a competitive match racer and showman on the many racetracks located around the country. As the class evolved Eddie led the way, working with the Ford/Mercury racing liaison at that time, Al Turner to make sure his cars incorporated both safety and speed. With this in mind, Turner commissioned the Logge Chassis group to build the new cars using tube chassis, fiberglass bodies, and bigger engines. Another item that set Eddie apart from many of these early experimental builder/drivers was the fact he was personally involved in the planning and building of most of his cars and continued to use various configurations of the Ford/Mercury engine both blown and unblown. While retired from active participation in racing, Eddie is now an authorized NAPA parts dealer.